Man Sentenced Three Decades After Sexual Assault in Weld County

Nearly 33 years ago, a Greeley woman walking home from a late-night shift was forced into an alley by two men, repeatedly sexually assaulted and abandoned in the downtown area. The brutal attack happened on July 31, 1984, and for more than three decades,
the suspects got away with it. But thanks to forensic technology, one of those men has been sent to prison for his crime.

According to the Weld County District Attorney, 57-year-old Rusty Barnhart was sentenced to the maximum of 24 years in prison. He was convicted in May of second-degree kidnapping, the only possible charge due to the statute of limitation on sex assaults.

The case went cold for three decades until 2014 when a new state law required law enforcement to test all unsolved rape kits. Two DNA hits came back belonging to
Barnhart and his co-defendant Inocencio Trevino, whose case is scheduled for trial in August.